"I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord do all these things." Isaiah 45:7
These verses are of "cause and effect" the same way that Romans 7:7 is: "I would not have known sin but by the law," i.e., the knowledge of holiness gives meaning to the concept of sin. So too in this verse: without light, darkness loses all meaning (and vice versa). When God made light, that means that there was "not-light" as a consequence. Read Genesis 1:3, 4: God created light, and then divided the light and the darkness. Where did the darkness come from? It was the consequence of the light.
The same is true with evil. All good things (including peace) come from God. Thus (logically speaking) all evil cannot be found in Him, but in rejecting Him. Anything that is not God or not of God is evil: anything not bound up in Him or leading to Him is evil. Through this we can deduce that evil exists not because God made it (as some nonsensically claim that this verse says), but because His very existence means that there exists the possibility of rejecting Him, or choosing the "not-God". The possibility of evil is the logically consequent of the existence of God.
This still does not mean that the existence of evil is God's fault. His existence means that there is only the possibility of evil, the possibility of rejecting Him. "Possibility" is only a potential, and as an unlikely wise man once said, "Potential just means that you haven't done a d--n thing." Possibilities must be acted upon in order to become actualities, and according to the Bible, we are the ones who acted. Evil's possibility is based in God's very existence; evil's actuality is based upon our rebellious action, and our continuing rebellious actions.
Father of Light and of Peace,
May I abhor all that You are not,
And cling to You...
-Jon Vowell
These verses are of "cause and effect" the same way that Romans 7:7 is: "I would not have known sin but by the law," i.e., the knowledge of holiness gives meaning to the concept of sin. So too in this verse: without light, darkness loses all meaning (and vice versa). When God made light, that means that there was "not-light" as a consequence. Read Genesis 1:3, 4: God created light, and then divided the light and the darkness. Where did the darkness come from? It was the consequence of the light.
The same is true with evil. All good things (including peace) come from God. Thus (logically speaking) all evil cannot be found in Him, but in rejecting Him. Anything that is not God or not of God is evil: anything not bound up in Him or leading to Him is evil. Through this we can deduce that evil exists not because God made it (as some nonsensically claim that this verse says), but because His very existence means that there exists the possibility of rejecting Him, or choosing the "not-God". The possibility of evil is the logically consequent of the existence of God.
This still does not mean that the existence of evil is God's fault. His existence means that there is only the possibility of evil, the possibility of rejecting Him. "Possibility" is only a potential, and as an unlikely wise man once said, "Potential just means that you haven't done a d--n thing." Possibilities must be acted upon in order to become actualities, and according to the Bible, we are the ones who acted. Evil's possibility is based in God's very existence; evil's actuality is based upon our rebellious action, and our continuing rebellious actions.
Father of Light and of Peace,
May I abhor all that You are not,
And cling to You...
-Jon Vowell
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